Vice President Li Zhisheng recently led a university delegation on a visit to the University of Strathclyde and the University of Leeds in the UK, as well as the University of Galway in Ireland. The visit focused on strengthening strategic partnerships with top-tier universities in the UK and Ireland. Extensive consensus was reached in areas such as cooperative education programs, joint research initiatives, and talent development.
At the University of Strathclyde, President Stephen McArthur met with the delegation, and the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Li Zhisheng noted that Strathclyde’s educational philosophy of “Learning by Doing” is highly aligned with that of SWUFE, and the two sides hold enormous cooperation potential in fields like fintech and business analytics. President McArthur spoke highly of SWUFE’s achievements in finance and economics education and expressed full support for advancing the joint education programs. The delegation also visited the Technology & Innovation Centre and toured the Centre for Continuous Manufacturing and Advanced Crystallisation.
At the University of Leeds, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Hai-sui Yu met with the delegation. Li Zhisheng stated the global reputation of Leeds’ business education and the complementary strengths of both institutions. Hai-sui Yu expressed interest in gradually deepening collaboration, building on existing academic exchanges. Julia Bennell, Executive Dean of Leeds University Business School, presided over the meeting, during which both sides reached consensus on renewing the MoU, faculty and student exchanges, and joint doctoral training programs.
At the University of Galway, Vice President Alex Metcalfe met with the delegation and signed an MoU. Li Zhisheng highlighted that the University of Galway has a strong research foundation in data science, health economics, environmental economics and other disciplines. The delegation presented proposals for three proposed joint education majors, namely Financial Technology, Digital Economy, and Data Science and Big Data Technology. Both sides engaged in detailed discussions on operational aspects such as faculty deployment and quality assurance.
The visit marks a significant step in strengthening higher education collaboration with UK and Irish institutions. A total of over 10 cooperation initiatives were agreed upon, and two institutional MoUs were signed. Tangible progress was made in program design, research collaboration, and joint talent development.
Leaders from the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, the School of Finance, the Institute of Chinese Financial Studies, and the School of Economics accompanied the visit.
